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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Wanted to pass along word I just received about a change in the rules for donating milk to the Mother's Milk Bank of Ohio.

One of their long standing rules was that you had to stop donating when your youngest child turned one year old. (I'd never quite gotten a good explanation for that, but apparently it's a common rule for HMBANA banks.)

I found out just this past week that the milk bank here in Columbus has lifted that rule and will now test milk from any mom and will accept it if the calorie and fat count reaches a certain level.

I don't know if this is a change at all HMBANA banks or just the Ohio bank (which is VERY short on milk), but it's worth checking if you're a mom with excess milk and open to donating.

I am 13 wk 6 days pregnant with my second child. I attempted to breastfeed my first child, but due to lack of support and some depression, I gave in before my milk even came in. I don't want that to happen with this baby; I just don't know where to begin. I've contacted all three "local" LLL groups but have gotten no response. I am hoping that you can share with me some beginning resources to get me started. Would you, please?

willing to share where you're located? Some of our readers may be able to point you to local groups. LLL isn't the only breastfeeding friendly group. There are also AP groups, NINO groups and quite a few others.

You know, I donated 250 oz of frozen bm to the San Jose milk bank and my son was 14 months old. I'm glad to hear that the rules have changed at your bank. On a related note, it is often said that "your milk changes as your child grows", but I wonder about the meaning of that. It doesn't seem reasonable that your body knows how old your baby is... I agree that the postpartum hormones can change the milk from colostrum to full milk, and that the protein content can be affected by a premature delivery, but I never understood how the body "knows" to increase/decrease (which is it?) the fat or protein, etc.

My theory is that the milk "changes" based on how often the baby nurses (i.e., the baby's nursing pattern). We know that the fat comes at the end of the feeding, for example. So maybe, as solids become main food and breastmilk is a one or twice a day snack, the milk that the baby gets is different not because of the baby's age but because of the once-a-day emptying of the breasts.

just a theory... Id love to hear what other might know.

The reason I bring this up is that if this is true, then the one year cutoff is less meaningful, as we all know that different babied drink different amounts as they get older. But Ive always been curious on the science behind this.